Trimming machine



March 16', 1926. 1,576,835

A. F. LITTLEFIELD I TRIMMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 6, 1919 2 Sheets-Sheet 1March 16 1926. 1,576,835

A. F. LITTLEFIELD TRIMMING mofrum:

Filed Dec. 6, 1919 2 heets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 16, 1926.-

UNITED STATES PATENT AUGUSTINE FRANK LITTLEIEIELD, 0F LYNN,MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OFPATERSON, NEW JERSEY; A CORPORATION on NEW JERSEY.

TRIMMING MACHINE.

Application filed December 6, 1919.

To all whom it may concern. I

Be it known that I, AUeUs'riNn F. LITTLE- FIELD, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of Lynn, in the county of Essex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Trimming Machines,of which the following description, in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the-drawingsindicating like parts in the several figures.

lhis invention relates to cutting machines and is herein illustrated asembodied in a machine for trimming surplus material from the bottom of ashoe.

In the manufacture of canvas shoes of the sneaker type it is customaryto lay an insole on the bottom of a last and then place an upper on thelast and bend the lower margin thereof over upon the margin of theinsole. This lasting operation causes packers in the bent-over margin.of the upper partici'ilarl'y at the toe portion of-the shoe.- Packersare also liable to form at the shankportion or elsewhere but not to thesame extent as at the toe portion. Aside from this surplus material inpuckered form, other surplus material is sometimes present at the shankportion where the vamp and quarter over-lap. It is desirable that allsurplus material of Whatever nature be removed as far as practicable soas to provide an even surface to receive the rubber sole since slightprojections, which would produce no undesirable appearance on the bottomof a leather sole will be imparted readily to a rubber sole because ofits plastic, flexible nature.

lllachines for removing the surplus upper material which projects fromthe bottom of the toe portion of a lasted McKay shoe have hitherto beenof the type shown in the patent to Ashton No. 891,130 in which a rotarymilling cutter is used, or the type shown in the patent to McFeely No.1,054,656, in which a coarse abrading member is employed. Such machinesoperate satisinctorily upon leather shoes but are not suitable for useupon shoes in which the upper material, by which the lining is meant tobe included, comprises rubber or rubberized fabric or fabric whichis-more or less imp s ated with rubber cement. Wi'ien such shoes arepresented to :iiiiachines SeriaI No. 342,969.

like those of the patents, the tools tear the material of the upper andrapidly become clogged with the rubber content. \Vith Goodyear welt andturned shoes the surplus material at the toe as well as that along theentire inseam has commonly been trimmed oft by so called inseamtrirni'ning machines the operation beingbe'gun at a bout the heel breastline and continued rogres sively along the inseam, the lip or shoulderof the insole or sole ser'i' ing as a guide. Such machines are notsuitable'for use with shoes of the sneaker type in" which there is nolip or shoulder.

According to one feature of the present invention there is providedcutting means adapted to extend substantially across the shoe so as tobe capable of engaging surplus material on opposite sides of the shoe,means for opera-ting the cutting means to produce a draw out and meansfor directing the toe portion of the shoe in position to cause thesurplus material to be severed. In the illustrative mechanism, rotarydisk-like knife of CO11QLVOCOI1YOX form is employed, the knife edgebeing kept moist by means of a wet wick held in contact with it, and aguide engages the bottom of the shoe and directs the shoe, toeforen'iost, to the knife in position to cause the surplus material to besevered first at the extreme toe portion and then simultaneously atopposite sides of the toe portion. With this mechanism the operation isa rapid. one and leaves the oi 'erlaste'd margin of the upper smooth.

According to another feature of the invention a machine is provided bywhich not only the suiplusmaterial at the toe portion but any which mayoccur at the shank or sides of the bottom of the shoe may be removed. Inthe illustrative machine two rotary concave con-vex knives are mountedin proximity to each other in such relation that a lasted shoe may bereadily presented first to one and then tothe other, one knife beingmounted on a shaft which is inclined at such an angle that the lastedshoe may be presented toe-foremost to it, and the other knife beingmounted on a substantia-lly upright-shaft to facilitate presentation ofthe shoe sidewise. Bypresentinthe shoe first to one and then to theother 0- the knives, all the oljwiectionable surplus terial may readilybe removed. And in order to permit this removal to be accomplishedreadily and accurately, work guides and gages of improved constructionare pro vided to co-operate with the knives.

These and other features of the invention will be described as embodiedin an illus trative machine and pointed out in the ap pended claims. I

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a machine in which the present inventionis embodied;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a view, principally in elevation, showing a piece of workabout to be presented to the knife for removing surplus material fromthe toe portion of the shoe;

Fig. at is a perspective showing more particularly the means forlimiting the depth of cut of the knife which is shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a section showing the piece of workbeing presented to theknife which removes surplus material from the shank portion of the shoe,and t Fig. 6 is a perspective of a lasted shoe after it has beenoperated upon at the toe portion and at one side of the shankportion.

The illustrative machine comprises two rotary disk-like concavo-convexkniv 7 and 9, the former being designed to remove surplus upper materialfrom the bottom of the toe portion of a lasted. shoe and the latterbeing adapted to remove surplus material from the side portions of thebottom of the shoe and particularly from the shank thereof. Referringmore particularly to Fig. 1, a driving shaft 11 has mounted upon it fastand loose pulleys 13 and 15 from one to the other of which a drivingbelt 17 may be moved by means of a belt shifter 19 by manipulating ahandle 21 at the end of an arm 23, said arm being pivoted at 25 to theframe of the machine and having a pin 27 which passes through a slotformed in the shifter 19. Fast to the driving shaft 11 is a pulleyhaving three steps 29, 31, The rotary knife 7 is driven from the step9.9 by a belt 35 which passes around the step 29, around two idlerpulleys one of which is shown at 37, and around a pulley 89 which isfast to the shaft l1. This shaft is mounted at an angle of about 45; andthe knife 7 fast to its lower end has its concave side facing downward.The other knife 9 is driven from the step 31 by a belt 13 which passesaround the step, over the idler pulleys 45 and around a pulley 47, thelatter pulley being fast to a vertical shaft upon the lower end of whichthe knife 9 is mounted. In order to maintain the knives sharp, there areprovided grinders 51 and 53 both driven, by mechanism which will now bedescribed, from the step The grinder 53 for the knife 7 is fastto ashaft 55 which is slidably and rotatably mounted in hearings in theframe of the machine and has a keyway 57 to receive keys carried respectively by pulleys 59 and 61, the latter being driven by a belt 63which passes around the step 33 and over an idler The grinder 53 isnormally held away from the knife 7 by a coiled spring 67 one end ofwhich abuts against part of the frame of the machine and the otheragainst a collar 09 which is fast to the shaft. The position of thegrinder is determined by the contact of this collar with a thumb nut 71threaded on a stationary screw 7 3. By manipulating the thumb nut thegrinder may thus be caused to move into or out of contact with the knife7. The mounting of the grinder 51 is similar to that of the grinder Theshaft 75 which carries the grinder and is inclined as shown, isslidingly and rotatably mounted in three stationary bearings 77, 79, 81and is driven by means of a belt 85 which passes around a pulley 83 onthe shaft 75 and around the pulley 59 on the shaft of the other grinder.The pulley 83 is held from longitudinal movement along the shaft 75 bymeans of a spacer 87. 111 order to permit the shaft 75 to be adjustedand to be held in adjusted position, a thumb screw 89 threaded upon astationary screw 91 is located between two outwardly extending ears 93on a hub 95 which is loose on the shaft 75 and is located betweencollars 97 and 99 which are fast to the shaft. With this construction itwill be clear that when power is applied to the shaft 11 the knives 7and 9 and the grinders 58, 51 will be retated continuously; and that thegrinders may be moved into operative relation with respect to theirrespective knives when desired.

Turning now to the knife 7, there is pro vided a guard 101 which coversall of the edge of the knife except the upper and lower portions andleaves exposed enough of the under side to permitacccss to the screw 10%by which the knife is fastened to its shaft. This guard is mounted onpins 105 which are adjustably held in sockets in the frame of themachine by screws 107 so that the guard may be adjusted when desired. Inorder to guide the toe portion of a shoe in a path which correspondsroughly to the curvature of the knife, there is provided a work guide inthe form of three tria. gillarly arranged rollers two of which 109 areat the same level and the other 111 at a lower level.

These rollers are carried by a which slidable in vertically ali bear--ings 115, said stem being keyed to one of the bearings to prevent itfrom turning. ln order to accomplish vertical adjustment of the stem athumb'screw 117 threaded int' the frame of the machine has fast to it adisk 119 which extends into a horizcaital groove cut in the stem 113.The bearings of the two rollers 109 are rigid with the stem 113, but thebracket 121 which carries the roller 111 is adjustable vertically on thestem and held in position by aset screw 123. The difference in levelbetween the roller 111 and the two rollers 109 can thus be varied toprovide for different curves onthe bottoms of shoes or lasts ofdifferent styles. In order properly to support the puckered surplusmaterial as it is being presented to the knife, a guide in the form of aseries of fingers 125 is provided. In the illustrative constructionthere are three pairs of these' fingers as best shown in Fig. 1. Eachpair is adjustably fastened by a bolt127 to the downwardly projectingportion of an angle plate 129, the horizontal portion of which isad-justably fastened by cap screws 131 to a supporting plate 183, saidlast namedpla-te being fast to the lower end of a stem 135 which isvertically adjustable in a bearing in the frame of the machine and heldin adjusted position by a set screw 13?. After the bolts 127 have beenloosened, the fingers may beadjusted up or down, or angularly about theaxes of the bolts. The .ngular adjustment is for the purpose of causingthem to conform as nearly as possible to the transverse curvature of thebottom of the.

shoe. The fingers extend. between the puckcrs and serve in a manner toseparate and to support them as shown in Fig. 4. The

. illustrative machine is designed particularly for operating uponrubber soled footwear such, for example, as a-rctics, in which the uppermaterial is composed more or less of rubber. In order to keep the edgeof-the knife wet so as to facilitate cutting; rubber or rubberizedmaterial, a wick 139 is held against the lower edge of the knife, thelower end of the Wick dipping into a reservoir for water as indicated inFig. .1".

Referring now to the knife 9 which is designed to trim off surplusmaterial at localities other than the toe portion of the shoe, thisknife is also concave-convex but with the convex side facingdownwardlyto ward the work. Surroundingall of the-edge of this knife except thefrontand back portions is a guard 141 fast to the lower end ofa stem1.43. Fast to the upper end of this stem is the lower end of anadjusting rod 145 the upper end of which is threaded through a sleeve147 having at itsupperend a thumb-nut 149 211121 fast to its lower end acollar 151 the sleeve being rotatable ina bearing in the frame of themachine but held from vertical movement- By turning the thumb nut 149'the guard 141 maybe adjusted vertically. Adjustably fastened to theguard by screws 153 is a gage 155, the screws passing through slots inthe gage and being threaded intothe guard so as to permit horizontaladjustment of. the gage.

This gage, as best'shown in Fig. 5, is bentdo-wninto a space formed bycuttin-gout. a portion of the guard. and has a beveled forward edgelocated in proximity to the edge of the knife. By adjusting the gageaway from or toward the. edge of the knife, the depth of cut of theknife may be regulated. The purpose of this knife, as has been stated,is to trim off any small projections of surplus material which may bepresent on the bottom ofthe shoe aside from that at the toeportion. Inthe manufacture of certain canvas shoes it is customary to employ apiece of'tape 100' which overlaps the vamp and quarter; and in themanufacture of this sort of a shoe,.the. knife 9 is used to sever theendsof this piece. of tape.

The shoe as it comes to the operator of this machine has been lasted,the margin of the upper having been drawn over the insole and attachedto' the insole by reason of its stickiness. The portion of the upperwhich overlaps the insole is more or less puckered especially about thetoe. It may also be more or less puckered at other points, for exampleat the shank and it may have a piece of tape 100 the projecting. ends ofwhich should be removed. The. operator presents the toe of the shoe tothe knife 7 as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4. holding. the bottom of theshoe against the guide rollers 1.0.9 and 11.1. and pushing the shoe,forward. The gage fingers 125 extend between the puckers as shown inFig. 4. .The effective portion; of the cutting means 7 conformsapproximately to. the, transverse; convexity of the bottom of the shoeand the guiding meanscomprising the: spaced rollers 109 and 1 11 oeeupy'positions: conforming to the longitudinazl and transverse curvatures ofsaid bottom, the. two-rollers 109 preventing sidewise I'OCkillg of the.shoe so that the knife will not cut more deeply into one margin ofthebottom of the shoe than into the other. As the shoe is pushedforward,toe foremost, with the longitudinal middle of the.- bottom of the shoein substantial alinement with the middle of the cutting means, the shoeis rocked lengthwise by reason of the difference in level between thatof the roller 111 and that of the rollers 109 so that the cutting takesplace in a curved path which corresponds substantially to thelongitudinal convexity of the bottom of the shoe. Thetoe of. the shoeafter having been sub-- jected to the operation of the knife 7appearssomewhat. as: shown in Fig. ,6, all of the. puckers. around;thetoe having been cut off. The'ope-rator then presents the side of theshoe to the knife-9 as indicated in Fig. 5. and moves the shoe inacurved path such as that indicated by the arrow in that figure in orderto cutoff the end of the tape or to cut off any puckerwhichmay-bepresent. The margin of the bottomof: the shoe is thus made smooth andeven so that when a rubber sole is attached and vulcanized to the shoeits bottom will also be smooth.

Although the invention has been described as embodied in a particularmachine, it should be understood that the invention is not limited tothe particular machine which has been described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A machine for cutting off the puckered surplus upper material fromthe bottom of a shoe having a smooth insole to which the lasted upper isattached by an adhesive substance, having, in combination, a cutter,means for operating the cutter to produce a draw cut, a rigid guidemember arranged to engage the bottom of the shoe, and a pucker-engagingmember extending over the edge of the cutter.

A machine for cutting off the puckered surplus upper material from thebottom of a shoe having a smooth insole to which the lasted upper isattached by an adhesive substance having in combination a rotarydisklike knife and a gage member supported above the knife and extendingdown over the edge of the knife into contact with the bottom of theshoe.

8. Mechanism for removing surplus material from the bottom of a shoecomprising a concavo-convex knife, means for driving the knife, and aguide adapted to direct the shoe into the concavity of the knife.

1-. Mechanism for removing surplus material from the bottom of a shoecomprising a concavo-convex knife, means for driving the knife, and aguide shaped to engage the bottom of the shoe at a plurality ofseparated points and adapted to direct the shoe to the knife.

Mechanism for removing surplus material from the bottom of a shoecomprising a concave-convex knife, means for driving the knife, and aguide having three triangularly arranged shoe contactingmembers adaptedto direct the shoe to the knife.

6. Mechanisn'i for removing surplus material from the bottom of a shoecomprising a coneavo-convex knife, means for driving the knife, and aguide adapted to direct the toe portion of the shoe along the con caveside of the knife in proximity thereto to cause the knife to sever thesurplus material.

T. Mechanism for removing surplus ma terial from the bottom of a shoecomprising a concavo-couvex knife, means for driving the knife, and aguide shaped to engage the bottom of the shoe at a plurality ofseparated points and adapted to direct the toe portion of the shoe alongthe concave side of the knife in proximity thereto to cause the knife tosever the surplus material;

8. ltflechanism for removing surplus mate rial from the toe portion of alasted shoe comprising a concavo-convex knife, means for driving theknife, and a guide shaped to direct the toe portion of the shoe to theknife in a path the curvature of which corresponds approximately to thatof the knife from a point on the edge to the center thereof.

9. Mechanism for removing surplus upper material from the bottom of thetoe portion of a lasted shoe comprising cutting means, and means forguiding the shoe to the cutting means in such manner that the uppermaterial is severed close to the insole, said guiding means including agroup of spaced members for engaging separated localities on the bottomof the insole of the shoe.

10. lviechanism for removing surplus ma terial from the bottom of a shoecomprising a knife, and means for guiding the shoe to the knife, saidguiding means including spaced rollers located at different levels forengaging separated localities on the bottom of the sole of the shoe.

11. hiecl'ianism for removing surplus up per material from the bottom ofthe toe portion of a shoe comprising cutting means constructed andarranged to sever surplus material from opposite sides of the shoesimultaneously, and means for guiding the shoe to the cutting means,said guiding means incl ding three triangularly arranged memers forengaging the bottom of the insole of the shoe.

12. Mechanism for removing puckered surplus material from the bottom ofa lasted shoe comprising a cutter, a guide for directing the shoe to thecutter, and a plurality of members for separating and supporting thepuckers.

13. Mechanism for removing puckered surplus material from the bottom ofa last-ed shoe comprising a cutter, a guide for directing the shoe tothe cutter, and a plurality of members arranged to extend between thepuckers.

lvlechanism for removing puckered surplus material from the bottom of alasted shoe comprising a cutter, a guide for directing the shoe to thecutter, a plurality of members adapted to extend between the puckers,and means whereby said members may be adjusted toward and from theknife.

lvlechanism for removing puckered SlllPltlS material from the bottom ofa lasted shoe comprising a cutter having a curved edge andpucker-separating members adjustable to conform to the transversecurvature of the bottom of the shoe.

16. Mechanism for removing surplus material from the toe portion'of thebottom of a lasted shoe comprising cutting means the edge of which isinclined in two direc tions in such :raanuer as be capable if severingsimultaneously the surplus mate rial on opposite sides of the shoe closeto the insole, means for operating the cutting means to produce a drawcut, and a guide adapted to facilitate directing of the shoe bottom sideup and toe foremost to the cutting means.

17. Mechanism for cutting off the puckers of surplus upper material fromthe bottom of the toe portion of a lasted shoe comprising rotary cuttingmeans the effective portion of the edge of which is inclined downwardlyin opposite directions to provide for the transverse curvature of thebottom of the shoe, and means for guiding the shoe to the cutting meansin such manner as to cut off the puckers close to the insole, saidguiding means comprising three spaced triangularly arranged membersadapted to engage the bottom of the insole, one in advance of the othertwo.

18. Mechanism for removing surplus material which projects from thebottom of the toe portion of a lasted shoe comprising disk-like cuttingmeans capable of severing simultaneously portions ofthe surplus materiallocated on opposite sides of the shoe, there being a free andunobstructed space beneath said cutting means to permit the shoe to bepresented toe foremost to and past said cutting means with the middle ofthe bottom of the shoe in substantial alinement with the middle of thecutting means, and means adapted to engage the bottom of the shoe tofacilitate such presentation.

19. Mechanism for removing surplus material which projects from thebottom of the toe portion of a lasted shoe comprising cutting meansadapted to extend across the bottom of the shoe and shaped to engagesimultaneously surplus material located on opposite sides of the bottomof the shoe, and guiding means for facilitating presen tation of theshoe bottom side up to the cutting means, said guiding means comprisingthree members adapted to engage the bottom of the shoe, two of saidmembers being located at the same level and the third being located inadvance of the other two and at a different level.

20. Mechanism for removing surplus material which projects from thebottom of a lasted shoe comprising cutting means the effective portionof which conforms approximately to the transverse convexity of thebottom of the shoe, and guiding means adapted to facilitate presentationof the shoe to the cutting means in a curved path which correspondsapproximately to the longitudinal curvature of the bottom of the shoe.

21. Mechanism for removing surplus material which projects from thebottom of a lasted shoe comprising cutting means the effective portionof which extends across the bottom of the shoe so as to engage oppositemargins simultaneously and conforms ap proximately to the transverseconvexity of the bottom of the shoe, and guiding means adaptedtofacilitate presentation of the shoe to the cutting means in a curvedpath which corresponds approximately to the longitudinal curvature ofthe bottom of the shoe.

22. Mechanism for removing surplus material from the bottom of a lastedshoe comprising cutting means and guiding means for facilitatingmovement of the shoe into engagement with the cutting means, saidguiding means being constructed and arranged to prevent sidewise rockingof the shoe and to permit and control lengthwise rocking thereof. 4

28. Mechanism for removing surplus ma terial from the bottom of a lastedshoe comprising cutting means and guiding means for facilitatingmovement of the shoe into engagement with the cut-ting means, saidguiding means being constructed and arranged to engage the bottom of theshoe at three separate points in such manner as to prevent sidewiserocking of the shoe and to permit and control lengthwise rockingthereof. r

24:. Mechanism for removing surplus material from the bottom of a lastedshoe comprising cutting means shaped to engage simultaneously oppositemargins of the bottom and means constructed and arranged to guide theshoe in such manner that the cut takes place in a curved path whichcorresponds substantially to the longitudinal curvature of the bottom ofthe shoe.

25. Mechanism for removing surplus material from the bottom of a lastedshoe comprising cutting means and guiding means constructed and arrangedto control presentation. of the shoe to the cutting means in such manneras to prevent sidewise. rocking of the shoe and to permit and controllengthwise rocking thereof while the surplus mate rial is being severedprogressively.

26. Mechanism for removing surplus ma terial from the transversely andlongitudinally curved bottom of a lasted shoe comprising cutting meansshaped to engage simultaneously opposite margins of the bottom andguiding means arranged to engage the bottom of the shoe at differentlevels and adapted to cause the path of the cut to curve in accordancewith said longitudinal curvature.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

AUGUSTINE FRANK LITTLEFIELD. I

